A friend of ours recently pointed out that the paint on our front windowsill is cracked and peeling. With equal kindness, she reminded me that it is only a few years since it was last painted. As if I needed reminding. I thought of blaming our home’s stubborn resistance to change but knew deep down that the fault lies elsewhere: with me.
A similar thing happens often in business. I have spoken to many managers over the years who blame difficulties associated with making change on the intransigence of their workforce. We have been conditioned to believing that ‘people hate change’ and that, therefore, they will naturally resist it.
My experience tells me that this preconception is a myth. The problem isn’t resistance to change. It is the frequent failure by managers to properly prepare a sound basis for change before it happens. Just as I failed to do with my paint job.
In fact, when a sound basis is prepared in the first place, what you often get is an irresistible momentum for change, rather than resistance to it.
So what is a sound basis for change? Here are three examples I can offer you based on my own experience.
– IDEAS FROM WITHIN. Last year I worked on a project which involved nearly 800 people changing the way they worked. The ideas for change came from the people themselves – and this provided the sound basis. Their focus was on those things which made their work difficult to do. The changes made were broad- ranging, often involving cost – and even staff – reductions. They were made with enthusiasm.
– AUTHENTIC MOTIVATION. I once worked with a group of staff who were so buried in their work they could see no way out. Initially they resisted any change for fear it might make things worse. Eventually they understood that our intentions were genuine – that we wanted to make their work easier to do. It took some time, but once this sound basis was in place, the changes were taken up with gusto.
– CONSISTENCY OF MESSAGE. The greatest resistance to change exists in organisations with a history of incoherent improvement initiatives. People come to associate change with a waste of time and effort; they want no part of it. In contrast, when change sits in tandem with a consistent message and direction, making change simply becomes ‘the way we work’.
What characterises each of these examples – and of course there are many more – is the demonstration that more work up front leads to less work later on. It’s a lesson I should have applied to my painting.
It’s not that change is simple. It isn’t. But, like so many aspects of business, we frequently make it more complex than it needs to be. So next time you need to initiate change, spend some extra time with the putty and sandpaper – and reap the rewards.
David Brewster is a Simplicity expert. He helps managers and
business owners succeed by finding ways to simplify the way they
work, the products they create and the way they communicate. His
client’s work more effectively and have more, happier customers.
David regularly writes and speaks on simplifying work. More
articles, downloads and resources are available at his website:
http://www.businesssimplification.com.au
